1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to time monitoring devices and more particularly to such devices that make commonly used equipment available to one or more persons or entities for a predetermined schedule and to provide the flexibility of extending it.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is usual to find agreements between the owner of a particular equipment with one or more entities for its use during a schedule that is agreed upon ahead of time. The most common example is a landlord that contracts with tenants, in a multiple unit, office building, to maintain adequate air conditioning from Monday to Friday, from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. It is not unusual that a particular tenant needs to extend its working hours beyond the contracted schedule, i.e., accountants near tax deadlines. The landlord usually needs to be notified ahead of time to make the proper arrangement. The present invention allows each individual tenant to switch on and off the use of the air conditioning system beyond the contracted schedule without giving notice to the landlord. The landlord only needs to read the elapsed time meter associated with each tenant and charge for this extra service accordingly. Also, the landlord may leave the air conditioning system off for the weekends, for example, and allowing any of the tenants to turn it on if needed. This would eliminate the compromise usually found in these situations which call for maybe one half of a day service on Saturdays, or the like. This arrangement saves energy.
Applicant believes that the closest reference corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,686, issued to Herbert L. Laube. However, it differs from the present invention because this device measures the time that a compressor or heater is in operation and the present device measures the time of each person (tenant) individual use outside the predetermined schedule.
Other patents describing the closest subject matter provide for a number of more or less complicated features that fail to solve the problem in an efficient and economical way. None of these patents suggest the novel features of the present invention.